Musicscan: After 8-9 years of playing in Comeback Kid: Are there still things left to
say and worth singing about? How do you stay motivated with what you are
doing?

Comeback Kid: Absolutely! I think as you get older you may depart more from the ideals of youth and have a more realistic world view and approach to relationships that I believe only comes from experience. Things are always happening in life to shape and reshape who we are so from that perspective I think there can always be new and fresh ideas. I think we just love what we do so much that it's not that hard to stay motivated as long as we can find the healthy balance between staying on the road and home life. Being in a band you have to have the delicate balance of both because there are so many personalities in the band.

Musicscan: Whether you’re going for old school or new school hardcore: it tends (or is told) to be a youth oriented movement. How do you stay young in the genre?

Comeback Kid: This is where the saying 'you're only as young as you feel' is relevant. I'm in my thirties now and I still have trouble thinking of myself as someone that should settle down. I still see myself as at least ten years younger than I am in a lot of way and don't really want that to change. I'm having so much fun doing what I do that there's no real reason for me to want to change that because i should 'grow up'.

Musicscan: How would you classify the state of hardcore right now compared to the time when you started with Comeback Kid?

Comeback Kid: I think it has changed like most other genres. Many more styles and sub genres have emerged which I think is very healthy. You don't want to rehash the same thing that's been done many times before. At the same time I feel some of the passion for fighting for what you believe in has been lost with the genre becoming more popular in the mainstream although I think a lot of the movements go in cycles.

Musicscan: I´m talking to a lot of bands and a lot of them claim to not be interested
in the hardcore scene as such anymore. Do you still stick to that scene?
Regarding all those stupid trends and the fact, that hardcore has become
some kind of a stylish scene, is it hard to still believe in the things you
once did?

Comeback Kid: Hardcore will always be the scene that we will identify with first but that does not mean we roll with whatever is going on. When we were younger that was a scene we were all heavily involved in for whatever reasons, everyone had there own. Now, things have changed as they always do and it may not feel like it did 10-15 years ago but we still know where we came from and why we're here. My views and believes are always going to be very important to me so just because they may not fit into the current glut of trendy hardcore bands I still hold true to what I believe but more importantly why I believe what I believe.

Musicscan: Symptoms + Cures is a fresh and vital sounding record: Is it a record you
consider to be something special in your career or is it just “one more
record”?

Comeback Kid: I guess the funny thing is it could be both. Let me explain. I personally think that it is our best record to date. I Love the way the songs turned out, I love the vibe and I think people are really digging what we have done so in that respect it is something very special. At the same time I hope this happens with every record in the future. We always want to push ourselves to make a better record than the last and try new things we've learned along the way but also stay true to the overall sound of Comeback Kid that we've carved out.

Musicscan: Do you think it's more important for hardcore-bands to observe the
traditions of a style, or to push the genre's boundaries? Is there a way to
achieve a balance between progression and tradition?

Comeback Kid: I think trying to find that balance between exploring new things while having a basic focus on where you came from is important especially for a band like us. We could never just sit back and right the same record we did when we started out but at the same time you will be able to hear the evolution of a hardcore band over the last 4 records.

Musicscan: Is there an underlying idea behind Symptoms + Cures, a personal meaning that can stand for the record as a whole?

Comeback Kid: I think Symptoms + Cures is a mere observation of the current world we live in where we are getting bombarded with people or companies telling us we have these 'problems' and we need to buy this or that to fix ourselves. A lot of these Symptoms are just created out of thin air in hopes that people will be fearful enough to buy the 'cure'. So much of what's wrong in the world is people taking advantage of others to make a quick dishonest buck at the vulnerable individuals expense.

Musicscan: Due to the success of your previous records you definitely had to deal with high expectations. How did you cope and deal with these expectations when
you were writing and recording Symptoms + Cures?

Comeback Kid: Living in an environment where you have high expectations for your next record is not fun. It's hard to relax at times. The best thing to do is just step back and think 'what kind of Comeback Kid song would I like to hear?' when writing. I know this sounds silly but as one of the founding members I'm a fan of the band and that make song writing so much easier because I get be a part of the writing process so I am writing what I want to hear and I've listened to our new record about 100 times and I'm still not sick of it.

Musicscan: A lot of bands change their sound over time, but much to your credit the
band has kept the successful sound your fans have grown to love. Has it been
hard to stay true to that core-sound Comeback Kid is known for or do you
guys just play what feels right?

Comeback Kid: We just play what we feel is right for the moment. We have four records and none of them sound like the others although obvious comparisons can be made. I don't think it's really that difficult to stay true to an overall sound as long as your still in love with the genre. Sometimes people move on and get bored and create records that sounds like a completely different genre and what that usually tells me is that they lost the drive of what got them excited about their band and now they are just going through the motions.

Musicscan: What, in your opinion, are the most exciting aspects about Symptoms + Cures?

Comeback Kid: I think the dynamics of the record are the strong point. There is so much varied emotion on the record and musically it is all over the place without sounding scatterbrained. Andrews vocals are also incredibly strong and really pushed himself on it to provide a lot of dynamics with the vocals as well.

Musicscan: A lot of todays bands seem to miss passion. You have lots of it and that's
why I enjoy Symptoms + Cures so much. Is it just a question of the right
attitude towards music and being a band? In my mind you made a pretty
courageous record. It´s intense and really shows what the band is all about…

Comeback Kid: There are so many distractions when you are in a band so it's easy to get carried away and forget why you are doing what you're doing. I guess it just goes back again to the fact that we started this band out of a love for music and just have not let that flame die. I think when you are in a band you need to try to keep a level head about you. There are many ups and downs and if you're not ready for them they will knock you on your ass.

Musicscan: From being out on the road, what are the things that made the biggest
impressions? I'm sure driving to and from a venue almost every night leaves
you ample time to sit and think about things and life in general. Unless
you're too tired to do so, of course. Do you think being a touring musician
has made you a stronger person at all?

Comeback Kid: For myself personally I really do think it's made me a stronger person. I've experienced so many different cultures, seen different ways of life and have interacted with all kinds of people from around the world that I wonder what I'd be like if I hadn't. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity because it has been really beneficial when trying to understand the world we live in.

Musicscan: This may seem like a strange question, but are the members of Comeback Kid into reading philosophy? A lot of your work seems to combine conscious
thoughts and different aspects of life, so I thought perhaps you were into
studying these topics…?

Comeback Kid: Not really. We are just a bunch a random dudes that love to make music and speak from personal experience. I think the important things is to keep and open mind and always challenge the status quo coming up with your own take on situations and figuring out your own solutions to life's drama. It is important to read and learn from those that have gone before us but the bottomline is that you have to answer for yourself and get to know yourself by digging deeper while knowing you'll never be able to figure it all out. Life is crazy.